It’s been a very exciting few weeks in the world of ice sculpting! If you haven’t yet heard, allow us to be the first to tell you that the official record for the world’s fastest time to carve 60 ice sculptures was shattered on Sunday, October 20, 2013. It was on that day that Richard Daly, became the new record holder at roughly 3pm, when he completed the feat in just 2 hours and 52 minutes. That’s almost half the time it took former record-holder, Richard Bubin, who had previously clocked in at 4 hours and 20 minutes.

The spectacle took place in The Ice House at Sculpted Ice Works facility in Lakeville, PA, where hundreds of onlookers watched history unfold. With Guinness World Record Adjudicator there to oversee everything, there were a few guidelines that Daly needed to adhere to. For starters, for each piece to be considered a sculpture, it would need to be carved 3D and be a recognizable shape or design. Additionally, the materials that needed to be used were not just your everyday ice blocks; each needed to be a verified, industry-standard 300-pound ice block, measuring 10” x 20” and 40” tall.

With the proper materials in front of him, only Daly was permitted to alter the shape of the ice block, while his six-man team proved to be helpful in moving each block into place for him, keeping time and clearing space for the next block once he was ready. With the support of his team, Daly was able to carve each piece in two to three minutes.

So what did Daly use to make his 60 world record-worthy sculptures come to life? Stihl electric chainsaws, a die grinder with a 5” rotary knife, a die grinder with a 4” long by 1” diameter burr and apparently, a lot of muscle! All of the tools Richard Daly used are available at www.icecrafters.com – minus the muscle of course!

At any rate, we’re happy to see new and exciting things happening in the world of ice sculptures! Congratulations to Daly from the Ice Crafters team!